Newbie - how do I start C++ programming?

[adzidzor]

:sad: I want to do serious C++ and VB programming but schooling is quite expensive, so I want to read and do it on my own. I know there are various text editors...even note pad. Are these editors used for programming, and then copied to a special programming software???? Forgive me if I sound styupid. I am a complete newbie with programming. :surprised

[Narue]

It depends on the language used. For C++ you will generally use a text editor to write the code, save it with a special file extension such as .cpp. Then you'll run it through another program called a compiler that will translate the code into machine instructions and spit out an executable file.

On the other hand, VB code is very much integrated with it's own development environment. That's what makes writing VB so fast and easy, most of the drudgery is abstracted away into a few mouse clicks.

[vegaseat]

Narue is so right! I know this will upset Narue, but give BCX a try. It comes with a VB like IDE called EZIDE and can actually produce C++ code for one of the free C++ compilers. Learning VB will not teach you C++ at the same time! BCX can do this however. Best of all BCX and EZIDE are free, VB is rather expensive! Check google for BCX.

[Narue]

>I know this will upset Narue
I don't have a problem if it's on-topic and related to the original question. :)

[adzidzor]

>For C++ you will generally use a text editor to write the code, save it with a special file extension such as .cpp.

Can I use any text editor...notepad etc? I'll try vegaseat's recommendations though.

[adzidzor]

What is an ASC file???? I am downloading Mandrake from an ftp link and an ASC extension file is included...do I need to download that too..??????

[vegaseat]

I think of an ASC (ASCII) file as a text file. You can display it in NotePad or any other text editor. For programming, the editor I like is the CrimsonEditor, free from:
http://www.crimsoneditor.com/

This little gem is clean and stable, has all the typical cut and paste stuff, opens several files at the same time, has code highlighting, a spellchecker (handy for those of us who use English as the second language), a macro recorder (for repetitive keystrokes), and most importantly you can compile and run your code from within the editor environment.

[adzidzor]

I have downloaded and installed the BCX and CrimsonEditor. All set to start my journey. thanx

[Young Teck 06]

Good luck with your journey, still need to get myself right on learning C++. Stupid book that I have now is no use.

[vegaseat]

I have downloaded and installed the BCX and CrimsonEditor. All set to start my journey. thanx

Good for you! Keep this thread alive with any of your experiences or questions. I will keep looking here! The BCX group on yahoo is very active. Right now they are porting to Source Forge to keep the standard version under control. Remember the BCX helpfile is great and has lots of examples to learn from.